Exodus 4 NLT HCSB Parallel

◄ Exodus 4 ►

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New Living Translation

Holman Christian Standard Bible

1But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The LORD never appeared to you’?”

1Then Moses answered, "What if they won't believe me and will not obey me but say, 'The LORD did not appear to you?"

2Then the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.

2The LORD asked him, "What is that in your hand?"" A staff," he replied.

3“Throw it down on the ground,” the LORD told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.

3Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran from it,

4Then the LORD told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.

4but the LORD told him, "Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail." So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. "

5“Perform this sign,” the LORD told him. “Then they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.”

5This will take place," He continued, "so they will believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

6Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease.

6In addition the LORD said to him, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, white as snow.

7“Now put your hand back into your cloak,” the LORD said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.

7Then He said, "Put your hand back inside your cloak." He put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin."

8The LORD said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign.

8If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign.

9And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”

9And if they don't believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground."

10But Moses pleaded with the LORD, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

10But Moses replied to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent--either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant--because I am slow and hesitant in speech."

11Then the LORD asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the LORD?

11Yahweh said to him, "Who made the human mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?

12Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

12Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say."

13But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

13Moses said, "Please, Lord, send someone else."

14Then the LORD became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you.

14Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses, and He said, "Isn't Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you.

15Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do.

15You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both you and him to speak and will teach you both what to do.

16Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say.

16He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and you will serve as God to him.

17And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.” Moses Returns to Egypt

17And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with."

18So Moses went back home to Jethro, his father-in-law. “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt,” Moses said. “I don’t even know if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

18Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

19Before Moses left Midian, the LORD said to him, “Return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you have died.”

19Now in Midian the LORD told Moses, "Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."

20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God.

20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God's staff in his hand.

21And the LORD told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.

21The LORD instructed Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do all the wonders before Pharaoh that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won't let the people go.

22Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son.

22Then you will say to Pharaoh: This is what Yahweh says: Israel is My firstborn son.

23I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’”

23I told you: Let My son go so that he may worship Me, but you refused to let him go. Now I will kill your firstborn son!"

24On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the LORD confronted him and was about to kill him.

24On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the LORD confronted him and sought to put him to death.

25But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet with the foreskin and said, “Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

25So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son's foreskin, and threw it at Moses' feet. Then she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood to me!"

26(When she said “a bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) After that, the LORD left him alone.

26So He let him alone. At that time she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," referring to the circumcision.

27Now the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go out into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron went and met Moses at the mountain of God, and he embraced him.

27Now the LORD had said to Aaron, "Go and meet Moses in the wilderness." So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.

28Moses then told Aaron everything the LORD had commanded him to say. And he told him about the miraculous signs the LORD had commanded him to perform.

28Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and about all the signs He had commanded him to do.

29Then Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and called all the elders of Israel together.

29Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites.

30Aaron told them everything the LORD had told Moses, and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched.

30Aaron repeated everything the LORD had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people.

31Then the people of Israel were convinced that the LORD had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

31The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD had paid attention to them and that He had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

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